u/BackgroundTimely5490

Hey everyone,
I’m a software engineer with around 7–8 years of experience in web and mobile app development. Over the last couple of years I’ve also moved heavily into AI development — things like AI voice agents, RAG systems, LLM apps, vector databases, automation, OpenAI integrations, etc.
I actually created my Upwork account around 5 years ago, but I never seriously focused on freelancing because I was busy with full-time work and agency projects. Back then I only tested a few proposals just to see how the platform worked. I don’t even remember connects being a big thing at that time.
Now I’m trying to seriously move toward Upwork/freelancing, but honestly it feels very difficult.
Everywhere I read people are saying:
jobs are slower now
competition is extremely high
AI/ChatGPT changed the market
many jobs get 50+ proposals within minutes
As someone starting seriously on Upwork with no reviews, it feels hard to understand how a new profile can realistically compete.
I’d really appreciate real advice from people who actually grew in the last 1–2 years, especially in development/AI.
Some questions I have:
What kind of jobs should a new profile target first?
Is it better to start with small jobs just for reviews?
How important are niche skills vs proposal writing?
Do clients care more about portfolio or Upwork history?
Is boosting proposals worth it?
How do you stand out when 50+ people apply?
I’m not looking for “guru” advice — just real experiences from people who are actually working on Upwork today.
Would appreciate any guidance. Thanks 🙏

I understand Fiverr Agencies allow adding team members with names, pictures, and descriptions, along with collaboration/invite features.

What I’m trying to understand is:

If I invite someone who already has an established Fiverr freelancer profile (reviews, ratings, levels, etc.), can clients publicly view or access that freelancer’s actual Fiverr profile through the agency?

Or are agency team members basically internal collaborators/profile cards without public reputation linking?

I’m asking because platforms like Upwork Agencies allow clients to inspect individual freelancer profiles inside the agency structure.

Would love to hear from anyone already running a Fiverr Agency.

Been building something for the last few months and wanted genuine feedback from people actually in local SEO.
The tool basically scans a website URL and generates a GEO/AEO audit report focused on how visible the business is inside AI search/results like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, etc.
Not just traditional SEO stuff. More like:
Does the business/entity even exist properly in LLM understanding?
Are services/location/context clear enough for AI answers?
What citations/content/schema are missing?
What queries they are likely to appear for
Competitor comparison
Weaknesses in local intent coverage (“best barber near me”, “coffee shop in Berlin”, etc.)
AI visibility scoring + recommendations
I tested the audit reports with a few businesses already and the reports are honestly way better than I expected. Very actionable, not generic AI fluff.
Now I’m trying to figure out the business side of it.
Main questions:
Do local businesses even understand GEO/AEO yet?
Would agencies buy this as white-label?
Better pricing model:
one-time audit?
monthly monitoring?
lead-gen style?
Should I make it free initially to get adoption/case studies?
What would YOU realistically pay for a solid AI visibility audit?
Feels like local search is slowly shifting from “Google rankings only” toward “being the answer inside AI assistants.”
Curious if others here are seeing the same shift or if I’m too early 😅

Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculous? I’m paying for the Claude Code Next ($100/mo) plan. I’m a developer, I run an IT firm, and I’m doing heavy R&D on AI agents and automation projects every single day.

I have the subscription. I have the "Max" limits. My laptop is sitting right here, logged into the official CLI. Why can’t I just use that connection as an API?

Anthropic only gives us the terminal/CLI or the dashboard. But if I’m building a custom automation tool or a multi-agent system, I need an API endpoint. They want me to go and set up separate API billing and pay per-token, essentially paying for the same model twice. 

If my laptop is on and I’m authenticated, I should be able to route my local projects through my subscription. It’s my compute, I already paid the "entrance fee."

Is anyone else building local proxies or wrappers to bypass this? I’ve seen people using OCP (Open-Compatible Proxy) or subprocess hacks that just script the claude CLI in the background to respond to local API calls. It feels like we’re being forced to "hack" a product we are already paying a premium for.

What are you guys using to bridge your Max subscription into your automation pipelines without paying Anthropic double?

have anyone used fiver personal assistant feature for a specific agency profile ?

As you know that now we are in the era of AI and GEO is must have have anyone of you update your website with the GEO because from now on making your self visible on AI agent and LLM like ChatGPT Claude is more important than Google search console